Publisher's Synopsis
Portland Power Couple Jed and Lexi Miller, rabid birders, hatch a scheme that turns wealthy friends into a crime syndicate known as the Cardinal 14, illegally importing endangered bird species for their private aviaries. For her 50th birthday, Lexi wants a Cherry-Throated Tanager, a bird she saw as a kid on a trip to a remote Brazilian rainforest with her anthropologist father. The cost for one of only 25 in existence is $1 million. Jed won't settle for less for his 50th. His sights are set on James Audubon's Birds of America, a collection of bird paintings-including images of nine extinct birds-from the early 1800s, which sells for $12 million at auction. When a bookseller and rare book room librarian turn up dead, the FBI and Portland Police-with the help of Veterinarian and Angel of Mercy Jim Briggs-race to bust an international poaching ring and catch the killers before more people die.
